Of Albums and Cameras
by Loxare
Summary: Alfred considers his favourite hobby. One shot.


Alfred Pennyworth is a man of many talents. He had to be, working for the Batman as he did. He could work virtually any computer, not as well as Miss Barbara, but with enough proficiency to suit him. He could patch any wound, diagnose most injuries. His stitches were known to hold during encounters with Bane. He could handle most kinds of firearm, drive the entire garage of vehicles, both above ground and below ground, and make a delicious penne marinara to top it all off.

But the one he was most proud of was his photography. The stealth he used to snap the candid photos rivaled Batman's, and the resulting pictures were always clear and steady. He kept them all in photo albums, all carefully lined up on his shelf. One for each of his charges.

Alfred was picky in which shots he used. Namely, he only put smiles in his albums. To remind himself of the good days, that despite all the pain and suffering that the family went through, they were still able to smile and laugh. There were a few notable exceptions, as there always tends to be.

The most recent was Master Damian's. It didn't have a lot in it, not yet. Not simply because the boy was new in the house, but because he rarely smiled sincerely. Indeed, there were plenty of mocking or superior smiles (mostly directed at Master Tim), but those weren't sincere and didn't belong in his books. But Alfred was nothing if not patient. He had photos of the child smiling at something Master Dick had said, glowing under the rare praise from his father, grinning serenely while painting or petting Titus. There was a rather splendid photo Alfred had nabbed of Miss Stephanie holding him in a head lock and giving him a "noogie" as the term was. Master Damian was scowling, as per usual, but a slight uplifting of the corners of his eyes had won the picture a place in Alfred's album. The boy may profess to being eternally broody, but Alfred had lived with Master Bruce for decades. If he couldn't detect a smile behind a scowl, no one could.

Speaking of Master Bruce, his album was surprisingly massive, especially considering the conditions Alfred had for pictures to put in it. Smiles only, and there was a number of them. Alfred didn't have any pictures from his childhood in here. Those pictures were in the album in the living room, and Master Bruce flipped through it when he wanted to remember his parents and his mission. After their deaths, the smiles stopped. Alfred had no pictures from that time. Sure, he could have put a charity gala photo in, but he wanted true smiles. As such, the first picture in the album was from a month after Master Dick came to live in the Manor. He had found a balloon and rubbed it on the Dark Knight's cowl-less head until his hair stood up. Alfred had managed to snap a picture of Master Bruce, sitting at the computer, hair sticking up in a million directions, and smiling at the boy. The first of many.

Master Dick's album was also massive, which wasn't at all surprising. Still, Alfred was picky about his pictures, so the pictures he had of Master Dick smiling over a bowl of cereal or the particularly good take down of a villain didn't make it to the album. Instead, there were hundreds of photos of Master Dick with the Titans, with the League, with the family. Master Dick teaching Master Damian the proper way to perform a windmill kick. Distracting Master Tim from his third consecutive day of case work. Showing Miss Cassandra how to incorporate acrobatics into her already massive library of fighting moves. One heartbreaking photo of Master Dick sitting at Miss Barbara's hospital bed, holding her hand while she slept. It was right after the doctors had told him that she would live, something which had been questionable until that point. A sad smile had graced Master Dick's features.

Miss Barbara also had an album. Some would be shocked that Alfred kept a record of her, even though she had never lived in the Manor, but as far as he was concerned, she was family. The first photo he had of her was a still from Master Dick's mask camera. At night, on the rooftop of police headquarters, a nervous grin gracing her features. Alfred had noticed how Master Dick's gaze had lingered on the girl and had taken the still for either relentless teasing, or to blackmail him into doing his homework. Over the years, that one still image had been joined by hundreds like it. Miss Barbara working in the Cave gym, flying through the night with Batman and Robin, laughing at a joke Master Jason had made. After her accident, the pictures had dropped off, almost stopping completely. But Miss Barbara was a fighter, and she would never allow herself to be stopped, not even by a crippling injury. She found her place again in their nightly crusade, and she found her happiness. She became Oracle, informant, guide, and mentor for both Miss Cassandra and Miss Stephanie.

Now, Miss Cassandra was a joy to photograph. Most likely due to her unusual upbringing, she didn't just smile with her mouth. She smiled with her whole body. It was visible in every line of her being, even in the flat world of photography. Her pride when she finished reading her first book, a highly recommended Sherlock Holmes novel. The time she had gone into an almost impossible hostage situation and had come out with no fatalities and no injuries. Discovering something as simple as Ice cream for the first time. Alfred's favourite picture had to be of the time she had been recounting playing roof top tag with Master Tim. She had gotten so into telling the story that she hadn't even noticed him lifting the camera, focusing the lens and taking the snap.

In fact, if Master Tim saw most of these, his pride would most likely suffer a hit. True, Master Tim was well known for taking pictures of the Dynamic Duo without them noticing, but Alfred had gotten photos of him staring right at the camera and being totally oblivious. And Master Tim's smiles had evolved over the years. In the beginning, they had been hopeful and childlike, but overlaid with worry, about his father, about keeping his double life a secret. The worry had come and gone and come again when Jack Drake had found out about his son's night life and alternated between supporting it and forbidding it. There had been a time, a difficult time, when Master Tim's smiles had stopped as well. After he had lost so much. But slowly, Master Kent and Miss Stephanie coaxed him out of his darkness and the smiles returned, brighter than ever. His most recent addition to the album was a lovely picture of him and Miss Stephanie sharing a chocolate milk shake.

Alfred didn't have any pictures of Miss Stephanie's early forays into vigilantism. In fact, his first picture of her was after she had caught her first non-Cluemaster villain. From there, it had been a veritable roller coaster of happy moments. There weren't many of her as Spoiler, mainly due to the full face mask which made the presence of a smile a guessing game, but there were many of her as both Robin and Batgirl. Still, Alfred's favourites were from the times she hadn't been masked, when her smiles lit up her eyes. The time she had come to the Manor and he had taught her three different ways to make waffles, and she had taught him that they tasted fantastic with mashed potatoes. One taken during her short run as Robin when she had managed to coax a grin out of the ever-scowling Batman. With an arm slung over Miss Cassandra's shoulders, talking about how a cute boy had totally been checking her out and how Miss Cass should ask him on a date. Playing with Damian, and him beaming when she had her back turned. Talking to Master Jason while sitting on a rooftop. Alfred had followed them around for three hours trying to get that picture.

Actually, Master Jason had two albums. The first album had been nearly empty, with fewer pictures in it than in Damian's. And it had sat there for years. There were times when Alfred would go through it and smile at the child's contagious grins and wonderful humor, such as the time he had covered Master Dick in Nightwing-blue glitter. A photo of Master Jason in the kitchen, trying to make Alfred breakfast for once and succeeding quite spectacularly, the mess notwithstanding. Those times had always ended with Alfred turning the page, hoping to see more, only to be confronted by a stark white. Those times had always ended with tears. But by some miracle, Master Jason had been returned to them. Of course, the album still didn't get added to. That helmet was even worse for determining smiles than Miss Stephanie's mask. The few times he did have his helmet off, he wasn't normally in the mood for a grin. So Alfred had started the second album. Of Master Jason frowning, of him screaming and crying, of him with a sarcastic grin plastered on his face. One that Alfred had gotten, purely by luck, of him dropping sixteen baskets at the door of an orphanage, each one filled to the brim with delicious food. Of him being alive. The first album didn't get a new picture for quite a long time. But slowly, oh so slowly, the photos collected. Master Jason trying and failing to hold back a smile when Master Dick embraced him. Master Jason teaching Master Damian how to play baseball, under the pretense that it was hand-eye coordination training. A picture Alfred had taken from Master Tim's security cameras of the two boys having breakfast together.

Alfred had never shown any of his charges these albums. He knew that, despite all of its failings, despite all the conflict and pain that each of his charges had been through, they were a family. And he knew that one day, the family might break. And he hoped that these albums might be the glue needed to put them back together. Just when they needed the reminder that despite everything they had been through, eventually the smiles would return, as they always had before. But until that day, Alfred would continue adding. In fact, Master Bruce might be needing a second album soon. His was getting very heavy.

The shutter of his camera closed without a snap. There was no point in taking pictures without being noticed if the shutter made noise every time, so he had developed a noiseless camera. A camera that was currently being lowered and tucked away before Master Damian noticed. But later, Alfred would develop the picture and grin. Master Damian with a party hat on his head and ice cream on his nose. Master Dick with a similar hat pulling him into an embrace. Master Tim laughing his head off. Master Jason and Miss Stephanie preparing to dump a bucket of water over Master Tim's head from behind. Miss Cassandra noticing them and waiting for the splash eagerly. Miss Barbara with a noise maker trying to inch away from the oblivious third Robin. And in the back, Master Bruce, with a disapproving look on his mouth, but with laughter in his eyes. He didn't warn Master Tim of his impending doom. All of his charges, all of his family, smiling and laughing, happy despite everything, perhaps happy because of everything. And Alfred had this moment captured as he did all of them.

* * *

 **AN: Hey, would you look at that! Another happy. Who would have thought I had it in me?**

 **I have a teeny confession. This story was partially inspired by oh-mother-of-darkness's Alfred headcanons. I liked it and I wrote a thing and it was happy. Hooray!**

 **Alfred stealth camera trumps Tim stealth camera. Totes.**

 **Read and enjoy!**


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